


Azula, the Great and Powerful Saviour

by JesusChristsuzIe



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Azula (Avatar) Needs a Hug, Eventual Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, Past Child Abuse, Protective Azula (Avatar), Protective Toph Beifong, Zuko (Avatar) Gets a Hug, Zuko (Avatar) Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:13:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26377078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JesusChristsuzIe/pseuds/JesusChristsuzIe
Summary: Zuko loves his sister, no matter how hard it has become, he remembers what it had been like when they were young, and decided to open up about happier memories to the Gaang.
Relationships: Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Katara & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Comments: 5
Kudos: 243





	Azula, the Great and Powerful Saviour

Zuko hadn't really been paying attention to the conversation going on around them. He tended to zone out a lot, especially when looking into flames, remembering the burning orange of the flames that bordered the throne, the harsh blue of his sister's fire, the twirling colours of the first fire benders. 

He didn't have any real need to listen in anyway. They were sharing stories and anecdotes of their lives, some of it together, but most of it before they had met each other. And a lot of it about their families. Zuko figured nobody wanted to hear about his family, and he wasn't really up for hearing about everybody else's happy childhoods, so he contented himself with staring into the fire, tuning himself to the pulsing of the flames and trying to remember some of Uncle's old lessons.

He was just starting to remember sitting on the deck of his old ship, Uncle sat across from him, a cup of tea in hand, rambling on about how Zuko had to be one with the flame, when Katara's voice snapped him back into reality.

"What about you, Zuko?"

Over the past few weeks, he and Katara had fallen into a sort of begrudging friendship. She asked him about his day and made sure he ate, even asking if he wanted to spar on occasion. Zuko wasn't really sure how to process her change of heart, but he tried to keep up as much as he could. He didn't want to end up on Katara's bad side again, and he secretly enjoyed having someone worry over him as much as she did. He couldn't understand Toph's issue with it.

"Uh, what?"

A look of fond exasperation settled over Katara's features, "Any stories from back in the Fire Nation, or when you were travelling with Iroh. You worked at a tea shop, or something, didn't you?"

Zuko was a little shocked that Katara had remembered that, he wasn't even sure the others knew, and was a little touched that someone had taken the time to know little details about his past, for better or for worse.

"Uh, yeah, The Jasmine Dragon. It was Uncle's pride and joy. He always loved tea, and after uh- after Ba Sing Se, and- and Lu Ten, all he wanted to do was open his own shop, so, when we were in Ba Sing Se, it was kinda like a fresh start. Nobody knew who we were and we needed to make a living somehow, so Uncle opened his tea shop and had me work in it," Zuko let out a deep breath. It was still difficult talking about Uncle and a lump had formed in his throat at the mention of Lu Ten, but it was kind of nice, being able to open up about someone he cared about so deeply to people he was quickly becoming just as attached to.

"I don't-" he had to stop a moment before continuing, still not too sure whether he wanted to open this wound, but he was safe here and he wanted to be able to be open with these people, with his friends, "I don't have loads of happy memories from home. Most of them were of my mother, or Uncle and Lu Ten."

He steadied himself with another deep breath, "Azula and I were never very close, my fath- _Ozai,_ encouraged competition, and Azula flourished under his praise, but when we were younger, like a lot younger, before what my- _Ozai_ , had been teaching us really sunk in, I used to sneak us out of training.

"She used to ask for guidance on a certain stance, and while the sages were distracted fawning over her, I shot a fireball at the decorative banners hanging on the walls. We used to run out back to our rooms when they tried to put out the fire."

He stared back down at fire as he spoke, memories of his younger sister swimming behind his vision.

"We used to play a game called dragons and princesses. I was always the princess," Zuko pointedly ignored Sokka's snort, "Azula used to play the dragon who attacked the princesses' villages, and then she would come swooping in and save everyone. She called herself Azula, the great and powerful saviour. She made me call her that practically all the time too.

"I didn't mind though. I liked playing with Azula, and, at the time, she was a bit like my saviour anyways."

Zuko could feel their questioning gazes pointed at the top of his head as he continued to look down, the flames burning their swirling patterns into his eyes.

"Ozai," Zuko mentally congratulated himself on not calling him father this time, "never liked me, I was a weak and untalented bender, and too emotional. He always said I took too much after my mother. So he," Zuko swallowed. He'd never really told anyone the full extent to which he suffered his father's wrath. Everyone in the palace already knew, or had made assumptions on how the Fire Lord treated his son, and it wasn't like Zuko had tons of friends he could have deep conversations with. He still wasn't sure he even wanted to talk about this, but it was too late to turn back now, "he would punish me."

"What do you mean, punish?"

Katara's gaze was steely, her deep blue eyes reminded him of the ocean during a storm, cold and dark, chaotic and unforgiving. He flinched away from her stare slightly, favouring the cool dirt underneath his feet.

"Little burns here and there," his voice was quiet as memories of shouting and pain resurfaced, "never enough to scar. He never hit us, he was always careful of that. Anything he did do could just be passed off as a training accident. But he never hurt Azula. She was the golden child, beautiful, talented Azula. He never burnt her, or raised his voice. I don't think he ever even got angry with her. She was his prodigy, his little Ozai in the making. So she was left untouched.

"I remember the first time she found me after one of my- my punishments. She didn't believe me at first. She didn't think her precious father could ever do such a thing, but she took care of me anyway. I was forbidden from seeing any of the palace healers, so she stole me a bit of burn salve and tore up one of my shirts for a bandage. Then she tried to distract me by putting on a play with her dolls.

"After that, for a while, every time she heard me in my room, or she heard Ozai shouting, she'd steal me some burn salve and try to distract me with her toys. She even kept some bandages in her room, hidden under her bed. I know she didn't mean it, but when _he_ heard about the torn shirt, I got punished double. She learnt not to make the same mistake twice.

"I know she's not perfect by a long shot, she's barely even my sister anymore, barely even human, but she's just as much a victim as I am. More so, even, at least I was able to get out. I don't really know what she's like anymore, just that she's become exactly what Ozai wanted, the perfect killing machine, but for a while, she was my little sister. Sweet little Azula, the great and powerful saviour."

No one spoke for a long time. Sokka let out a long breath, he kept looking up at Zuko and then down at the fire, and then back up at Zuko again. His mouth opening and shutting in an almost mechanical manner. It was beginning to make him uncomfortable. He was just about to snap at him, in a way that was probably totally inappropriate for the moment, but would probably make them all feel a little more comfortable, when Toph spoke up beside him.

She had actually made the effort to turn her whole body towards him, instead of staring emptily ahead of her in the way she always did when she spoke to someone. She had missed his face by more than just a little, but Zuko didn't say anything. He didn't mind. He appreciated the gesture. He appreciated what it left unsaid.

"Well, I- I don't know Azula. I don't know what she was like before, but uh- if you want, I can be your sister now. We can- we can be your family, your saviours."

She looked down, even in the dim lighting, he could see the small flush spreading across her face. He hadn't really noticed how pale she was until now. 

He smiled. Larger than he had in what felt like years. Larger than he had since he had seen Uncle. 

He hesitated for a moment, before ultimately deciding it was worth what ever assault he landed after, as he wrapped Toph up in his arms, he pulled her up, so that her cheek was rested against his and she sat practically in his lap.

"I would love for you to be my saviour," he thought for a minute before adding, "as long as I can be your saviour too."

Toph grumbled slightly before wrapping her arms around Zuko's shoulders. He was able to enjoy the hug for about two seconds, before the rest of them jumped on them, hands grabbing at his shirt and stroking his hair, everyone wailing about family and love and saviours.

That night Zuko fell asleep cuddled between his siblings, a large grin plastered on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Yo this isn't very good so like if you made it this far then thanks   
> Love me some young Azula and zuko sibling relationship almost as much as the found family trope


End file.
